Hidden Treasure

Here is a great excerpt from Dallas Willard’s Renewing the Christian Mind:

The kingdom of heaven is like where something of extreme value is concealed in a field. Someone discovers it, and quickly covers it up again. Overflowing with joyous excite3ment he pulls together everything he has, sells it all and buys the field (Mt.13:44, PAR) …

This little story perfectly expresses the condition of the soul in one who chooses life in the kingdom with Jesus. The sense of the goodness to be achieved by that choice, of the opportunity that may be missed if not chosen, the love for the value discovered, and the excitement and joy over it all is exactly the same as it was for those who were drawn to Jesus in those long-ago days when he first walked among us. It is also the condition of the soul from which discipleship can be effectively chosen today …

Do you think the one who found the treasure in the field was sweating over its cost? An obviously ridiculous question. Of course not. The only thing his person was sweating about was whether they would be included in such a great deal. This is the appropriate condition of the soul in a disciple of Jesus. No one enters reluctantly or sadly into a discipleship relationship with Jesus. They understand the immensity of the opportunity.

Renewing the Christian Mind, pp.268-269 (with a few edits to shorten the quote)

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